Adrian8562

In the rotting port city of Daggerfall seventeen year old Kael Vos moves in the shadows not out of principle, but because it’s the only way to survive. Fresh to the city and tied to the howlers, a street gang clawing for relevance in a city choked by crime, Kael takes the jobs he’s given no questions asked. He’s not a killer, not yet but he’s no hero either, just another blade trying to make rent. 

When a simple debt collection job goes sideways Kael finds himself branded unreliable. He’s caught between rival factions ready to tear each other apart. Nine criminal houses carve Daggerfall to pieces, the cities noble lord looks the other way as long as his belly stays full. 

As pressure mounts Kael must chose between playing the pawn in a game he barely understands or carving his own path In a city that eats men like him alive. But survival in Daggerfall comes with a cost, and blood always pays.

daggerfall: the nine nooses

Kael stepped back out into the daylight, squinting as the cold air bit at his face. The cloth wrapped bundle sat against his ribs, tucked inside his coat

Didn't like that he was the one carrying it

He moved through the alleys south of Smokebend, quieter now than the market, but not silent. Somewhere nearby, a woman cursed at her mule

He resisted the urge to pat the bundle again. Make sure it hadn't shifted. It hadn't. He could feel the shape of it: roundish, a little soft, but with something solid in the middle. No jingle, No clink, Not a weapon. Not a stone

He passed a corner where someone had drawn a sigil on the wall with animal blood, some superstition about warding off bad air. The kind of nonsense desperate people used when they didn't have coin for a healer or muscle for protection

He wondered what would happen if he looked inside the bundle

Mara's warning echoed in the back of his mind, Don't drop this one

He adjusted the coat over it and kept walking

Kael slipped off the main path, cutting through a narrow alley that smelled like vinegar and wet ash. Broken crates leaned against the walls, and a pile of old fabric slumped in one corner like a collapsed man

He checked behind him. No footsteps. No voices.

Kael leaned against the wall, coat still closed, the bundle pressing against his ribs like it had grown heavier the longer he carried it.

Gray cloth, tied tight with twine. The knot was simple. No seal. No blood mark. Just a package

He turned it over in his hands. It didn't rattle. Didn't shift, Didn't breathe, at least. He set it on a crate, stood over it. Just stared

Could be something harmless. Could be coin. Could be something that shouldn't be carried in daylight. In Daggerfall, there wasn't much space between the two

He thought about untying it, Thought about how easy it'd be. Just a flick of the blade. Just a glance

But if Mara didn't want him to know, there was probably a reason. And he was still walking around with her stitches holding his guts together

Kael picked the bundle up again, slipped it back into his coat, and turned out of the alley

a peak